Posts Tagged: profits

News

Refiners’ profits spur scrutiny from special legislative session

An oil drilling rig off the coast of California. (Photo: Joe Belanger, via Shutterstock)

Several major firms that refine crude oil into gas in California have been doing well lately, a contrast to consumers facing gas price hikes. Against this backdrop, Gov. Newsom has called for a special legislative session in December focused on capping windfall profits (like PBF and Valero’s recently) and a price-gouging rebate for consumers.

Opinion

End recording industry’s corporate loophole that strangles artists

A drum kit is wired in and ready to go at a recording studio. (Photo: Taya Ovod, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: What do hip-hop stars Megan Thee Stallion and Ms. Lauryn Hill have in common? The first things that come to mind may be their platinum albums, multiple Grammy Awards (12 between them), and the fact that they are the only two female rappers in history to have been named “Best New Artist of the Year” by the Recording Academy

News

Tangled tale: Research, profits and the ‘bubble baby’ syndrome

Evangelina, a former 'bubble baby,' plays inside a giant plastic bubble. (Photo: Stem Cellar Report, CIRM)

Little Evangelina Padilla-Vaccaro is more than a poster girl for the $12 billion California stem cell agency. She embodies a big bet by the agency that its efforts will conquer at least a few of the terrible diseases that are currently incurable. In the case of Evie, as the eight-year-old is known, she was born with what has come to be described as the bubble baby syndrome, a rare genetic mutation that crippled her immune system to the point that she would have died if left untreated.

News

The pandemic is hurting pediatric hospitals, too

A coronavirus checkpoint at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.. (Photo: MSPhotographic, via Shutterstock)

And children’s hospitals that have offered to take sick kids off the hands of adult hospitals, or extend the age of people they admit, have not seen an influx of patients to fill the beds they emptied. As a result, numerous pediatric facilities, like many of the adult ones, face sharply declining revenues and extra expenses.

Opinion

California must tackle skyrocketing drug prices

A pharmacist puts medications on the shelves of his store. (Photo: viewfinder, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: We’ve seen the stories of Pharma Bro, we’ve read about Big Pharma’s Q1 profit margins. What drug companies are trying to keep secret though, is Pay-for-Delay, a sneaky tactic that brand name and generic drug companies are using – and getting away with — that costs Americans $3.5 billion per year in higher health care costs.

News

Target: CalPERS’ private equity profits

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

Calpensions: After the board was told last April that CalPERS could not track the incentive payments, known as “carried interest,” a wave of media criticism grew with stories in the New York Times late last month and Fortune magazine last week. A pension fraud investigator, Edward Siedle of Benchmark Financial Services, launched an Internet fund-raising campaign on Kickstarter to raise $750,000 for a “forensic investigation” of the California Public Employees Retirement System.

Opinion

Small business, labor join together on franchises

It may seem nostalgic to think that small businesses and the people they employ could work together for the strength of our communities, but that old-fashioned idea is making a comeback because giant corporations like 7-Eleven are threatening the survival of both local franchise owners and workers in our communities.

News

Study: Stakes high for internet poker

A computer keyboard flanked by the elements of traditional poker. (Photo: Pedro Sala)

As negotiations intensify over establishing internet poker in California, a study commissioned by several casino-owning tribes says online gaming could result in $845 million in revenue and more than 2,600 new jobs by 2020. The figures stem in part from an analysis of legislation that was considered – and rejected — by lawmakers last year. Similar legislation is the focus of negotiations this year, but so far an agreement has proven elusive.

News

Corporate tax receipts slide, despite profits

Gov. Schwarzenegger unveils budget, 2009

It’s a litany of good news in Gov. Jerry Brown’s election-year budget. Safety net programs are being shored up. Debt is being repaid. Revenues are rising.

Except for corporate taxes.

In fact, business tax receipts are falling at the same time hefty profits are being posted by major companies across the country. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

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